What a weird, dark little book.

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) by Stephen King

So maybe you’ve heard this old story about how to boil a frog. You dump a frog in boiling water, he’s going to jump right out. You put cool water in the pot with lil froggie and slowly heat it up while he’s inside? Maybe he won’t sit there and boil to death. He’ll jump out eventually if things get too hot. But he’s gonna stay in there a good long while if you play your cards right.

It’s a useful little anecdote; can be used for all sorts of fun metaphorical purposes. For instance, I believe I once heard someone say George R.R. Martin boils a good frog in A Song of Ice and Fire. How else you think he got all these normals to read his long-ass books about dragons and ice vampires, huh? You lure ’em in with some cute wolf puppies and fancy people doing violent fancy people things, and then sloooowly you add in the weird stuff.

Which brings us to The Gunslinger, the first chapter in Stephen King’s twenty-five-plus years in the making western fantasy horror epic. We’re dropped right into it with that famous opening line, and shit gets weird straight away. Uncle Stevie ain’t gonna waste time boiling no frog. He dumps us straight into the nearly boiling water and hopes we don’t jump straight out. Luckily I’m an idiot with terrible survival instincts. And well, it helps that I trust in the storytelling powers of Stephen King, that even if I’m confused as hell right now, it’ll all work out in the end.

I’m not even mad I’m going to have to re-read this after I finish all seven books. It’s just a straight up fact. I got the basic gist of the plot, but I’m 1000% sure I missed most of the significance of nearly everything that happened. (Though I do have a guess that came with that feeling you only get every once in a while that means your guess is going to be right, and you’re really not going to be happy about it.)

I kind of can’t get over how different this was than King’s normal stuff. Much more experimental and weird. It’s like a fever dream full of all this unconnected imagery, only when you’re done reading it, unlike with a dream, the images don’t fade into oblivion.

I didn’t really like it, but I find it interesting, and I’m willing to lend the rest of the series my trust. For now. (Also, worth noting I read it in less than a day.)

You never finished? I know he took about twenty years to get all seven books out and that angered some people (they got mad when he almost died without finishing, ugh, people are the worst), and I’ve heard the last book is a love it or hate it kind of book.

Have you seen the vitriol over Patrick Rothfuss lately? People are SO INSANE about him. Like, they genuinely believe he is a liar and a terrible person and dicks his fans around being lazy and not writing. (They generally use as evidence at that point how he claimed to have written and finished the series before the first book was even published, which is a very ungenerous interpretation of the facts.) The lack of compassion and the sense of entitlement is astounding.

There are people complaining about him asking him to donate to his favorite charities on Twitter all the time. Like, genuinely butthurt about CHARITY. They also complain that he plays so many videogames on Twitch, missing the point, because he does that to earn money for his charity.

Like, first of all, assholes, he’s not asking you to donate to charity. HE RUNS A CHARITY THAT HE STARTED FROM SCRATCH. I’ve seen these same people say that donating to charity is a waste because it doesn’t go to help actual people. This also shows they have their heads up their butts about PR because he knows EXACTLY where that money is going. It’s one of the reasons he chose Heifer Intl in the first place.

Seriously, just read another book! It’s not that hard.

These same people will be the first to buy the book when it does come out. And they will like it. Either that, or they won’t read it just like they’ve threatened, and who is that hurting? Nobody but themselves. Pat seriously doesn’t need the money.

I watched a video of his on Youtube just the other day where he talked about giving people the option of him live-streaming working on the book or playing a video game – and the latter wins hands down. Every. Time.

I was unaware there was so much antagonism about what he’s doing, though. That’s disheartening.

Agreed. I was completely sucked in with the first book, adored book 3, but barely made it through book 4 and never continued on. When he finally finished the series I was tempted to go back and give it another shot, but I’m going to settle for the movie with Idris Elba so get to the ending.

This is all so interesting…I love seeing what works for some and what doesn’t. I loved book 4. Loved it. And was so mad at Uncle Stevie that it took so long to get more. How dare he go and get hit by that car! And then I really liked 5, despised 6, and sort of liked 7 (even more the second time). I’m back into the series now with audible, and just finished The Gunslinger…listening to it was great because I picked up on stuff I may not have noticed before simply from the cadence of the narrator. Also, I guess there’s really 8 books, which I always forget. Good luck!

I read it last year! I tried to hit the major King books that I thought would be helpful in reading this series (‘Salem’s Lot, The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon). I know there are others, but I didn’t want to wait any longer!

I wasn’t super fond of The Gunslinger the first time around, but re-read it once I’d gotten through the first four books, and liked it a lot more on a re-read, when it was more obvious how it fits into the series as a whole. Books two and three are good, even though there is a lot of stuff that didn’t entirely work for me. I remember absolutely adoring book four, Wizard and Glass so much, but have been afraid to re-read it, in case that opinion has changed somehow. I started the series only a year or two before the final three books came out, so I didn’t have to have the epic wait some people did. Seem to recall book five being ok, book six being pretty dire, the very end of book seven being excellent, but the resolution to the major conflict extremely unsatisfying and I can absolutely see why people who had been waiting for the end of the series for decades were disappointed and felt betrayed by King.

I should probably re-read the whole series, without breaks in between, but it’s sooo long and there are so many other shiny books out there and I know I really didn’t like parts of it. I think the TV adaptation might be rubbish, but am also curious. So torn!

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